7000024 - Writing your own Story
Course Description
When crafting one’s own story, writers often draw from their memories, experiences, and research to focus on specific moments, an era, or themes. In this intensive writing course, you will read a variety of examples of memoir and develop strategies to write your own stories.
A combination of lectures, discussions, workshopping, and writing exercises will help you learn about and practice applying literary tools and techniques from creative non-fiction, fiction, and poetry to memoir writing. We will experiment with different elements of craft, such as the journey of a story, narrative voice, and literary structures. As a group, we will consider the implicit challenges and ethical implications of writing memoir.
Upon completion of the course, you will have written and revised two pieces of writing (a flash memoir and a longer memoir story). While this course is not focused on planning out a book-length memoir or autobiography, the skills you develop in the course can be applied to a longer manuscript.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Respond to a variety of readings from published authors to investigate memoir as a genre
- Explain different approaches to the journey of a piece of memoir and apply one to your own writing
- Incorporate various literary devices, including dialogue, description, character development, imagery, sound, and rhythm, into your memoir writing
- Participate in substantive discussions of memoir writing and approaches to form and style to share your learnings with other students and learn from others
- Engage in a writing practice with other writers to experiment with your writing style and your role as a narrator
- Provide supportive feedback to others and demonstrate the application of feedback provided through workshopping your work
- Identify the implicit challenges inherent in writing true stories and the ethics of memoir
- Demonstrate the use of memoir styles and techniques in your own writing by creating and revising a portfolio of writing
Course Topics
- What Is Memoir? What Is Your Story?
- How Will You Tell Your Story?: Structures, Containers, Vessels
- What Is Your Role as Narrator?
- What Is the Journey of Your Story?
- Tools from Fiction: Characterization, Dialogue, Plot
- Tools from Poetry: Sound, Rhythm, Imagery, Tone
- The Revision Process
- Ethics, Honesty, Publishing, and the Writing Life
Additional Requirements
- This course is intended for adult learners who are at least 18 years of age.
- There are no prerequisites for this course.
- You may take this as an individual course.
- You do not have to register in the Creative Writing Certificate to take this course.
Assessment
| Assessment Item | Weight |
|---|---|
| Discussion and Workshop Participation | 30% |
| Flash Memoir | 20% |
| Long-Form Memoir | 20% |
| Final Portfolio | 30% |
| Total | 100% |
Please note the course assessment is subject to change.
Sponsoring Partner
School of English and Theatre Studies, College of Arts
Applies Toward the Following Certificate
Creative Writing Certificate Elective Course, pending approval from the Senate Committee on Non-Degree Studies.
Technical Requirements
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*Course details are subject to change.